Their Other Side: Six American Women and the Lure of Italy

Helen Barolini
Fordham University Press (2006)
ISBN 0823226298
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (1/07)

The author, Helen Barolini, felt drawn to Italy as a child. She was a student in Rome after WWII. She writes about six American women and how their attraction to Italy helped increase her own ties to her ancestral homeland. With each woman she explored these questions, “Why had they come? What had they found? What was given to them by their exposure to an old world land and culture? What had changed their lives?” She also explored the answers to these questions in regards to her own life.

She first writes about Margaret Fuller (1810-1850). Fuller was sent to Europe as the first American woman overseas correspondent. She had a child with and married an Italian man. Unfortunately, they perished in a ship wreck on their way back to the United States. Barolini felt a connection to Fuller because she was also a young American journalist living in Italy. She described Fuller as “socially enlightened, original thinker, loyal, generous and heroic.”

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a New Englander who wrote about Italy in her poetry. While she was alive she published less than twelve poems. After her death over a thousand poems were found in her dresser drawer. Emily never visited Italy, yet she still felt drawn to it and wrote about it in many of her poems.

Novelist Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840-1894) also wrote about Italy. She was buried in Italy after committing suicide. Mabel Dodge Luhan (1870-1962) was an heiress who moved to Italy while she was in search of herself. She was a memoirist who Barolini described as a “symbol of sexually emancipated, self-aware New Woman in control of her own destiny.” She was “Famous for being Famous.”

She also discussed the life of Princess Marguerite Caetani (1880-1963) who wrote the literary review “Botteghe Oscure.” This was published twice a year from 1948-1960. Barolini describes this American-born woman who married a European prince, as guarded and reticent. The final person that she writes about is Iris Origo (1902-1988). This American woman married an Italian nobleman. She wrote biographies and established a refuge for people fleeing Mussolini’s fascism.

The lives of these women spanned from 1810 to 1988. Each of these women was special and had many traits to be admired. I can understand how Barolini felt connected to them through their ties to Italy. Including Barolini, all were American-born and all felt a special connection to the country. In addition to learning more about the lives of these women, I also learned more about the richness of the Italian culture. I highly recommend this book “Their Other Side: Six American Women and the Lure of Italy.”

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